"Robert A. Heinlein - Space Cadet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

Smoke poured through the room, making him cough, ' watering his eyes,
and veiling the target. He squinted and; hung on grimly, intent only on
hanging onto that pesky circle of light-through more explosions, screaming
painful) noise, flashing lights, wind in his eyes, and endless, crazy emotions
of his chair. ' тАв
Suddenly the room lights flared up, and the mechanical 1 voice said: "Test
completed. Carry out your next assignment." тАв;
Once he was given a handful of beans and a small bottle, and was told to
sit down and place the bottle at a mark on ;,-the floor and locate in his mind
the exact position of the ; bottle. Then he was to close his eyes and drop the
beans one at a time into the bottle-if possible.
He could tell from the sound that he was not making many hits, but he
was mortified to find, when he opened his eyes, that only one bean rested in
the bottle.
He hid the bottom of his bottle in his fist and queued up at the examiner's
desk. Several of those lined up had a goodly number of beans in their bottles,
although he noted two with no beans at all. Presently he handed his bottle to
the examiner. "Dodson, Matthew, sir. One bean."
The examiner noted it without comment. Matt blurted out, "Excuse me, sir-
but what's to keep a person from cheating by peeking?"
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 The examiner smiled. "Nothing at all. Go on to your next test."
Matt left, grumbling. It did not occur to him that he might not know what
was being tested.
Late in the day he was ushered into a cubbyhole con-
taining a chair, a gadget mounted on a desk, pencil and paper, and
framed directions.
"If any score from a previous test," Matt read, "appears in the window
marked SCORE, return the starting lever to the position marked NEUTRAL to
clear the board for your test."
Matt found the window labeled "SCORE"; it had a score showing in it-"37."
Well, he thought, that gives me a mark to shoot at. He decided not to clear
the board until he had read the instructions.
"After the test starts," he read, "a score of T will result each time you press
the lefthand button except as otherwise provided here below. Press the
lefthand button whenever the red light appears provided the green light is not
lighted as well except that no button should be pressed when the righthand
gate is open unless all lights are out. If the right-hand gate is open and the
lefthand gate is closed, no score will result from pressing any button, but the
lefthand button must nevertheless be pressed under these circumstances if
all other conditions permit a button to be pressed before any score may be
made in succeeding phases of the test. To put out the green light, press the
righthand button. If the lefthand gate is not closed, no button may be
pressed. If the lefthand gate is closed while the red light is lighted, do not
press the lefthand button if the green light is out unless the righthand gate is
open. To start the test move the starting lever from neutral all the way to the
right. The test runs for two minutes from the time you move the starting lever
to the right. Study these instructions, then select your own time for
commencing the test. You are not permitted to ask questions of the
examiner, so be sure that you understand the instructions. Make as high a